


A Long Time Coming

by ALK7



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Light Angst, Now in Massachusetts just cause, Stonewall Prep (Riverdale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:27:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29820078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALK7/pseuds/ALK7
Summary: Three times Betty Cooper slaps Jughead Jones on the face and one time she slaps some sense into him.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	A Long Time Coming

**Author's Note:**

> The funny thing is, this was originally a You've Got Mail AU (which is still in the works but is now sidelined) until it got away from me. This is a product of my overactive, non-script following, imagination.

Jughead Jones is going into cardiac arrest in this hotel ballroom and it’s all Betty Cooper’s fault. 

His heart stops the moment she walks in the door. He’s certain he’s never felt for anyone else what he feels for her and never will. The strong emotions swirling around in him steal the very breath from his lungs.

Her tight, red dress accentuating the mouth-watering curves he wants to get his hands on may also be to blame but he’s trying hard not to dwell on that tidbit, lest he make an even bigger fool of himself. He can deal with the internal nerves getting the better of his usually cast-iron-stomach. He will not, however, be able to handle subtly hiding the lower half of his body for the rest of the night. 

A seemingly simple ten-year high school reunion should not be cause for crisis but that’s certainly what it’s turning into.

Ducking out of sight before she spots him, he physically shoves his best friends out the side door - not an easy feat considering Archie has a good 50 pounds on him and Jason has a tendency to make every situation more difficult than it needs to be - and begs their help.

“Betty is here. I thought she wasn’t coming. What do I do?”   
  


They both stare slack-jawed at him for almost 10 seconds - he’s counting - before Archie recovers first.

“We’re happy to help in any way we can, Jug, you know that. But,” he says delicately, “maybe it’s time to stop hiding and just tell her the truth. She might surprise you.” The patience and reassurance in his tone starts to calm him down.

Which means that Jason’s words will probably only rile him back up. They work in tandem like that.

“Juggie,” he starts and Jughead rolls his eyes - an involuntary response to hearing his nickname, born from an unfortunate incident in senior year, which was oddly enough another nausea-inducing crisis involving Betty Cooper - already dreading what precious gems Jason is about to bestow upon him, “Archie is right.”

A bit anticlimactic, for sure. He’d been expecting something, well, less mature.

“You finally recognize my superior intelligence, Jase, I’m glad.” Archie laughs, the two of them wrestling good-naturedly, and the tension in Jughead completely oozes out of him. Whatever happens tonight - whether cause for celebration or commiseration - his friends will be right by his side.

“Let’s do this.” Jughead Jones’ mission for the night - and hopefully, the rest of his life - is underway.

\-------------------

Jughead was 18 years old when he had his first encounter with Elizabeth Cooper. They were both students attending Stonewall Preparatory Academy - a dated and, therefore, well-respected institution for the obscenely rich and overly privileged. She’d whirled into his life with swinging fists - literally - and wild green eyes. 

But the real start to their story didn’t even involve her. No, it began with Ethel Muggs.

He’d only gone on one date with the pretty redhead - not really his type, but friendly enough - and it’d been a double date at that. A favor cashed in by Jason, who had been aching to go out with Toni Topaz. It didn’t really make sense in his mind why Toni couldn’t date without her cousin, Ethel, present, - although if he had to guess, it would be some sort of ‘Taming of the Shrew’-esque situation, wherein the desired party could only engage in romantic pursuits when a more serious and, probably more, responsible party accompanied them - outdated in his opinion, but being a good friend, he went along with it. 

They’d gone to a local diner, Pops - well-known for its greasy burgers and diabetes offered in the form of milkshakes - that the two of them, along with the last member of their trio, Archie, frequented quite often. Jason, usually out of his desire to aggravate his snobbier than normal parents - people who stuck their nose up at the Jones family’s “new money”, even though it was quite on par with the riches held in the Blossom family’s vaults - and Jughead and Archie, out of sheer want for some oily, clog-your-arteries, food. 

In hindsight, it wasn’t exactly the place to take two upper-class girls on a Saturday night and thus, it was doomed for failure. By the end of the date, Jason and Toni were both clearly disillusioned by each other - one hoping for a formal courting to appease her parents and the other turned off by the mere thought of such an arrangement - and they’d all parted ways. Jughead doesn’t even bother to acknowledge Ethel at school after that, mistakenly thinking they’d been of the same mind - only out for a good time to help their friends. 

It came back to bite him in the ass about two weeks later.

Because, as it turned out, Toni did  _ not  _ have to be accompanied by her cousin to go on a date. And she’d had two goals in mind for that night. The obvious one being her locking down of Jason Blossom, heir to the Blossom family as the eldest son - unsuccessful, but a good attempt nonetheless. And the second, less-known reason, to set Ethel up with the person she’d, apparently, been in love with for years. 

Him. 

He liked to think that he had a healthy sense of self-esteem, perhaps bordering on too low at times. But he’s always been a good judge of others’ character. He’s prided himself on that, how good he is at reading people.

Which is why it blindsided him when Ethel Mugg’s best friend, Elizabeth Cooper - just recently returned after a trip back home to New York (where they’d met as kids, before Ethel moved to Massachusetts and Elizabeth had inexplicably followed years later) for an extended spring break ( _ why did he know all that _ ) - smacked him right in the face after school, claiming him the “breaker of the purest heart she’d ever known”.

Betty was little - even compared to his lanky frame, although he was tall so that helped - but her bright green eyes more than made up for that fact, coming alive with the very fury of Medusa herself. Although he’d never interacted with her before, being in two different social circles - him, a loner, hanging on the outskirts with only a handful of close friends and her, the National Honor Society’s little darling - he’d noticed her as soon as she appeared a few months back. Her arrival had been quite noteworthy - the daughter of two famous journalists and close friends of the Headmaster - starting in the middle of their senior year among people who, for the most part, had grown up together. He’d been meaning to introduce himself to her and invite her to join the school newspaper but something kept holding him back. 

It could’ve been the wide smile on her face when she’d laugh with her friends. The sound of her husky laugh echoing throughout the school hallways. Or the intense passion displayed on her face when she learned something new. Perhaps a combination of all those things.

So yeah, he’d noticed her. But she’d never seemed to even glance at him.

Until that surprising - and honestly, slightly arousing  _ (teenage boy + beautiful girl with fiery eyes and heaving chest = hate myself for these disgusting thoughts but come  _ on _ )  _ \- confrontation in the hallway, where they met each other through the palm of her hand and the side of his face. At first, her approach had reminded him of a bride’s march down the aisle towards her groom - both pairs of eyes locked together, nothing and no one else existing outside of them - but it’s probably rare that that type of event will unfold with bodily assault. 

He’d never been very comfortable with attention - probably a result of his introvertedness - but he’d actually felt himself blush at Betty’s nearness. And her accusation, of course.

“What are you talking about, you crazy woman? And why’d you slap me? Not that it really hurt, you’ve got the softest hands I’ve ever felt and not that much power in your swing.”

“How  _ dare  _ you! Did you just call me crazy?” Jughead noticed the exact moment when the custodian, the only other presence around, started mopping backwards and out of sight.  _ Coward. Where was a responsible adult when you needed one?  _ “Oh, I’ll make sure it hurts next time, you chauvinistic pig!”

“ _ WHAT? _ Do you even hear yourself right now? What have I ever done to you? This is the first time we’ve talked!” As much as he admired her from afar - not in a creepy way, despite how innately stalker-ish it sounded - Jughead was no pushover and nobody talked to him like that. 

“Hah! You, Jughead Jones, are scum. How dare you treat Ethel like the rubbish that  _ you  _ are? You’re lucky she even deigned to look at you and-” Betty’s tirade was cut off by Ethel’s voice.

“Betty! Leave him alone!” 

The sight of Ethel Muggs running to save him had only served to confuse him more.

“Ethel, don’t you dare try to defend him. Toni told me everything!”

She had winced at the same time that Jughead asked, “Ethel, what’s going on? What did I do?”

Before Betty could start yelling again - because it was quite clear that she was about to tear into him viciously again - Ethel dragged her into the closest classroom, calling out a quick, “Hold on please, I’ll explain everything” over her shoulder.

A minute had passed, then two, and Jughead had wondered if it wasn’t better to leave sans explanation. He’d just finished a tiring afternoon into the early evening of editing the newspaper and decided to stop in at his locker to grab his books when he’d been accosted. Right as he’d resolved to simply avoid the two girls for the rest of the school year, Ethel finally emerged alone, fidgeting with her small hands.

“Thank you for waiting for me, Jughead.” 

“I don’t understand what just happened, Ethel. Is Betty upset that we went out with Jason and Toni or something? I don’t know what I could’ve done to cause that level of anger.”

She grimaced. “You did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing. This is all my fault really. I-” a deep sigh then, “wasn’t forthcoming with details of our date and Betty noticed I’ve been upset lately so she asked Toni instead, who is still a bit sore about Jason.” She rushes to add, “Not that it’s his fault either, Toni was just upset because her mom got on her case for not ‘securing him’. But that frustration bled into her conversation with Betty and she didn’t have any nice things to say about either of you.”

“I still don’t really understand,” he’d said, perplexed, “what that has to do with me and the showdown I had with Betty just now.”

Ethel’s eyes had dropped down to the ground and she’d taken one, two, three calming breaths before declaring, “I’ve been in love with you, Jughead, since I first moved here and met you. I thought our date meant more than it did. When I realized that you’d only gone there as Jason’s friend, I was crushed. I’m not saying this to guilt you or make you feel bad but I know now that nothing’s going to happen between us. I just wish I’d explained it to Betty before this so she wouldn’t have gone crusading on my behalf. I’m very sorry she slapped you and yelled at you.”

If there was ever a time and place to use the word flabbergasted, it was in that instance to describe how Jughead Jones felt. He’d been completely thrown by Ethel’s confession -  _ in love with me? I don’t think we’ve ever had a conversation longer than this one! - _ but it had served to mollify the upset feelings that Betty’s outburst had stirred up in him.

_ ‘God, to have Elizabeth Cooper by you, fighting your battles. The other side wouldn’t stand a chance.’ _

“I’m sorry, Ethel. I really had no idea. If I’d known, I would’ve told Jason to take Toni out alone. I just,” he’d grasped for the right words to make the situation better, “I’m sorry if I can’t give you the answer you wanted. You are a good person, kind, genuine, and I definitely don’t deserve you.”

Her small, sad smile had proved that nothing he’d said would really make her feel better. Only time would do that.

“Thank you. For acknowledging my feelings and being so sweet about all of this.  _ You  _ are a good person, Jughead Jones. I hope you’ll forgive me for the red mark on your face.” 

“Already forgiven. I told Betty it didn’t hurt much to save face but actually it hurt like a bitch.” A weak chuckle had escaped him. “I better go but thank you for telling me, Ethel. I guess I’ll see you around.”

Just before he’d turned around, he’d made eye contact with the saddest, most penitent-looking gaze he’d ever come across.

Elizabeth Cooper was crying in that room and his heart had hurt at the sight.

He sent a quick but warm smile, spun around and walked out.

  
  


School drew to a close as the weeks passed. The big events - prom, finals, a championship game to write about - served to prove that change was upon them. High school would morph into summer into college into the rest of their lives. The one thing that kept him sane under all that pressure were the little apology cookies that he got every day like clockwork. Those cookies - homemade, sometimes chocolate chip, other times peanut butter, still other times oatmeal raisin, and toasty, like they’d been pulled fresh from the oven mere minutes before - single-handedly made him increase his exercise regimen - which meant  _ start  _ his exercise regimen. He never even shared with Jason and Archie, who watched him  _ inhale  _ them, drool hanging off their chins. He’d also never told them that they were from Betty, letting them believe his mother had suddenly taken up baking.

Of course, there was never any explicit communication between him and Betty after that one blowup and thus, no actual verbal confirmation that she was the source of the delicious snacks but he knew it was her anyway. It was clear in the way she’d linger in the hallway outside his homeroom each day when he first showed up to class. In the way her big green eyes would squint a little in apology and her lips would quirk up in a barely-there smile. But she’d never speak to him about it and would - although not obviously done - avoid him around school.

Before he knew it, graduation flew by and she was gone, back to New York to pursue her Journalism degree  _ (allegedly, he can neither confirm nor deny how he knows this)  _ and he was at the Wharton School in Pennsylvania along with his friends, all three of them gearing up to take over their family businesses.

Four years would pass before he’d see her again. Ironically, it’s at Ethel Doiley’s, nee Muggs, wedding. 

Ethel’s husband is a quiet man - serious-looking and content to let her do all the talking - and they seem to be a match made in heaven. Jughead was surprised to learn he’d warranted an invitation to the happy occasion but reflects later that most, if not all, their old classmates from SPA were in attendance.

Including a tiny little thing with her New York accent stronger than ever. 

Elizabeth Cooper had waltzed into the ballroom, the hem of her floral dress in constant motion, twirling around her knees with every step. 

_ ‘What a sight for sore eyes.’  _ he’d mused. 

After two drinks of liquid courage, Archie and Jason’s bolstering back slaps, and a private pep-talk in the men’s restrooms, he’d pounced on her from behind. And regretted it the instant he felt her soft hand -  _ still so soft! -  _ smack against his face.

_ ‘Damn it, not again!’ _

“Jughead! Oh god, I’m so sorry! I thought you were Dilton’s best man, Ben. That little weasel has been rubbing against me all night despite my several, very emphatic requests that he stop.”

“It’s alright,” he laughed but his eyes had scanned the perimeter in search of any slimy-looking characters, giving up when he didn’t spot one. “It seems like there is a gravitational pull between my face and your hands.”

She squirmed a bit uncomfortably at that. “You’re right, I’m really sorry for that time in high school I went off on you. I was so embarrassed that I never had the courage to apologize to your face - and I mean that in both ways.” 

“Betty,” he reassured her, “I forgave you that day about five minutes after it happened. I hope you haven’t been beating yourself up about it for four years. Besides,” a cheeky smile painted his face, “you more than made up for any slights with all the baked goods you gifted me.”

“It was a bit easier to apologize through cookies instead of words then and now. Since I don’t have any on me tonight,” her sly smile melted his insides, “maybe you’ll accept a dance as compensation instead?”

“Definitely.”

He’d been so disappointed when the song ended and Ethel had fetched her for an emergency. He wouldn’t see her for the rest of the night. But he’d get her friend request on social media the next day and it would more than make up for his unrealized hopes the night before. 

  
  
  


Another six years gone and he’s now working directly under his father at the Jones family’s alcoholic beverage company, White Wyrm - definitely not the name he would’ve chosen. Elizabeth Cooper has become his  _ friend.  _ The two of them have developed an ease between them that he’d never felt with even Archie and Jason - and he’s known them practically since birth. But the fact that they are living in different states has sidelined any possibility of something  _ more.  _

They’ve both dated other people over the passing years, of course, still choosing to live their own lives. But every time they see each other - whether he visits her in New York or she comes to him - they fall into their own world. They’ve never gone further than holding hands and kissing each others’ cheeks but he knows that they are building towards something big and exciting; can feel it in his bones that something is changing. One of these days, someone will snap and take the plunge forward. 

It ends up being both of them.

It’s on one of the nights that he has a layover in New York - whenever that happens, he stays with her, without fail - while he’s travelling for a work trip and they decide to stop in at the bar near her apartment.

Three drinks in, he has to pee and heads to the bathroom. By the time he comes back, the douchiest douche bag he’s ever seen is chatting her up. She’s not into it - he can tell - but the sight of someone touching her silky hair and leaning into her the way this guy is has him seeing red. He doesn’t even register marching over to them and shoving the idiot away from her. He  _ does  _ register the feel of her hand smacking his face.

“What the hell, Betts? Why’d you slap me again? I was getting that bastard away from you!”

“Jug, you got in the way! I was about to slap that stupid grin off his face before yours took its place! I don’t need you protecting me when I can damn well do it myself.” Her accent only gets stronger when she is drunk and he loves it. 

Loves  _ her. _

He’s not sure who leans in first but he’s suddenly got a handful of her firm ass in his grip and Betty’s tongue in his mouth. Their embrace is about to get very R-rated very fast -  _ and he can’t wait, finally -  _ until security interrupts them and demands they take their leave.

Too drunk on alcohol and on one another - hands groping, moans reverberating - they barely make it inside her apartment with their clothes on, falling into each other right against the back of her door.

  
  


She’s gone when he wakes up.

Wherever she is, she doesn’t return before he has to leave to catch his flight and she doesn’t call. The apartment is cold without her presence and he can’t bear it. He’s never felt so lonely in his entire life. 

For the first time, he wishes she’d never slapped him in defense of Ethel Muggs’ honor.

  
  


When his flight lands and he checks his phone, he sees her text waiting for him.

_ Jug, we made a big mistake last night. _

He stares at the screen for a couple more seconds, feels the tears pricking his eyes, heart breaking in his chest, then turns off his phone. He’ll get a new one, with a different number, tomorrow. 

  
  


It’s a few weeks later that he’s pulling up to the hotel where his ten-year reunion is taking place. He’d debated for a while if he should attend or not, giving himself a headache in the process - it also doesn’t help that movers have been going in and out of the apartment next to his at all hours over the last week, interrupting his sleep schedule - but he figures the odds of Betty attending are very slim. She doesn’t travel very often and when she does, she usually plans her trips months in advance - insisting that she give extra notice because she always stays with him; he’d never told her that she could crash through the door of his apartment at any time of the day and he’d welcome her with open arms - so it’s unlikely she’ll make it tonight.

That’s what he tells himself until he sees her walk through the doorway and panic immediately sets in. 

He grabs his friends and hauls them out.

  
  


His talk with them - if it can be considered that, what with how short it was - has given him enough confidence to approach her. Whatever happens after this, at least he’ll know that he gave it his best shot.

She must sense him getting closer because she whirls around and fixes him with a glare so severe, he almost doesn’t make it the last few steps to her.

“Betts, how are you?”

She scoffs and her glower manages to increase in intensity. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Jughead Jones. You think you can saunter up to me after weeks of radio silence? In addition to leaving me the day after we finally got our acts together?”

He blinks slowly at her. “You told me it was a mistake. You left first.”

“Jug, I didn’t say that part was the mistake. I said  _ a  _ mistake, as in, we got a bit too handsy in the elevator and it was caught on CC-TV. I was called into a meeting with the building manager that morning while he deliberated if we should be charged for public indecency or not. But you would’ve known that if you’d stuck around or answered my calls and messages.”

It’s one of those times when ‘flabbergasted’ proves its worth to the English language.

_ ‘I  _ am  _ a damn idiot.’ _

“Betty, I’m sorry.  _ God _ , I’m so  _ sorry _ . What happened? Are you okay? Can you still live there?”

“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about that day before you checked out. My lease was ending soon anyway so we settled things quickly and quietly. I’m currently in the process of moving into my new apartment.”

“I didn’t know you were moving out of there. You never mentioned you got a new place.”

“Again, it was a discussion for our morning after. That you failed to show up for.”

He cringes, “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t be there. I thought you regretted it and left, so I did too. Stupid of me, in hindsight, because there were a number of reasons you could’ve gone out. But it made me realize how far gone I am and I couldn’t handle it without you.”

Jughead takes a deep breath, before laying it all out. “We’ve known each other since we were 18 years old, Betts. I met you when I was just a kid but even then, I could sense that there was something special about you. Being your friend and getting to know you better over the years has been one of the greatest joys of my life. But I want more,” he reaches out for her hands with his own shaky ones, “I want  _ everything  _ with you. More morning afters, more late nights, arguing and making up. I want to build the rest of my life with you. Do you think you’d want that too?”

She smiles softly and leans in, giving him a soft peck on his lips, sending his heart aflutter. “I  _ know  _ I want that. Jughead Jones, I love you.”

His poor heart can’t handle all the excitement today, racing faster than ever now. “Not as much as I love you, Betty Cooper. I’ll start looking into relocating to New York by tomorrow. I don’t want to be separated from you by so many miles ever again. It’s been terrible.”

Betty giggles and pulls away, ignoring his groan of protest. Reaching for her phone and whipping it out, she fiddles with it for some time before turning it around and showing him the screen. It’s a picture of his living room.

“Why are you showing me this?”

“It’s a picture of my new neighbor’s home.” She fidgets self-consciously.

He can’t contain his excitement but he needs to hear the actual words. “Betty, are you moving into the apartment next door to me?”

“Yes,” she answers nervously. “I wanted to surprise you. What do you think?”

“It’s a good idea, but” he teases gently, “I’d be happiest if you moved into my apartment instead.”

She rolls her eyes fondly, places her hand softly on his cheek - the same one that’s been slapped several times by her and he hopes there are many more to come- and kisses him.


End file.
